Thursday, July 10, 2014

They've lost interest

TO TEST THE VALIDITY OF THAT PREMISE, THESE REPORTERS SURVEYED THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE.

ABC NEWS EXPLAINED, "HE JUST ISN'T TRENDY, YOU KNOW?"

THE CW SPOKE MORE BLUNTLY, "HE'S ABOUT AS RELEVANT TODAY AS EVAN MARRIOTT. HE'S PARIS HILTON TRYING TO LIVE IN A KARDASHIAN WORLD AND THAT JUST AIN'T GONNA' HAPPEN."

NBC NEWS EXPLAINED, "PEOPLE JUST DON'T WANT TO WATCH HIM ANYMORE -- HE'S LIKE SEASON FOUR OF HEROES. WE'RE LOOKING AT HIS RATINGS AND WONDERING, 'WHERE DID THE VIEWERS GO?"

FOX NEWS TOLD US, "IT'S SO BAD, EVEN WE ARE STARTING TO FEEL SORRY FOR HIM."

PBS STATED, "WE'D BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THAT QUESTION IN A JUST A MOMENT AFTER WE COME BACK FROM OUR PLEDGE DRIVE. WOULD YOU LIKE A SUZE ORMAN TALKING ALARM CLOCK FOR A $400 PLEDGE OR POSSIBLY A BERT AND ERNIE PLASTIC CUP FOR A $300 PLEDGE?"

NOTING THAT THEIR VIEWERS TREND OLD, CBS NEWS EXPLAINED, "THEY SEE IN BARRY O THE SON WITH PROMISE WHO TURNED INTO THE EMBARRASSMENT YOU NEVER SPEAK OF."

WHEN THESE RESULTS WERE RELAYED BACK TO BARRY O FOR A COMMENT, HE REPLIED, "YES, BUT WHAT DID UPN SAY?"

THESE REPORTERS DID NOT HAVE THE HEART TO EXPLAIN TO THE FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF THAT UPN WAS NO MORE.

71 percent of Americans said that the conflict in Iraq was not worth
fighting, and 49 percent said that Washington does not have a
responsibility to help the Iraqi government fight off insurgent groups.

49% is a very high number when you consider that they are opposing US
President Barack Obama's so-called 'plan' for Iraq. It's not even been a
month since Barack drew vague outlines in a June 19th speech. Yet 49%
are already opposed to it.

And for good reason, it's not a plan and it backs Nouri al-Maliki -- the
man whose destroyed Iraq over two terms and wants a third one.

ISIS is only one small part of a larger Sunni revolt in Iraq that
sectarian groups have been preparing for years, according to Iraq’s
exiled Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi. And defeating ISIS won’t stop
the greater battle.“We shouldn’t look at this development of ISIS as apart from the
uprising of the Arab Sunni provinces over two years,” Hashimi told The
Daily Beast in an interview from Turkey, where he has been living since
the government of Nouri al-Maliki purged him in 2012 by indicting him on
murder charges, then convicting him in abstentia.“The provinces have done a peaceful Sunni revolt against the
oppression, the injustice, the inhuman conditions the Arab Sunnis have
been suffering for years,” he said.

The issue of 'advisors' came up in today's US State Dept press briefing moderated by spokesperson Jen Psaki:

QUESTION: Okay. And let me just follow up on the advisors on
the ground. Their first assessment last week was that the Iraqis may be
able to defend Baghdad but are unable to sort of retake territory
already conquered by the Islamic State. Has there been any update to the
situation? Are they doing anything other than assessment and perhaps
talking to --MS. PSAKI: Well, assessing is certainly a part of --QUESTION: Right.MS. PSAKI: -- what their mandate is. But I would refer you to DOD for any updates on their work on the ground.QUESTION: Okay. But the fact that al-Baghdadi so boldly goes
to a mosque that is a well-known mosque in Mosul and within – knowing
exactly where he is, his location was well known and so on, is the
United States or would the United States be willing to engage militarily
to ensure that, like they did back in 2004 and ’05 and ’06 when they
targeted Zawahiri, that they would actually target al-Baghdadi?

MS. PSAKI: You’re familiar with the options that we always
have and the President always has at his disposal, but as has
consistently been the case, our focus is on the political process and
encouraging that to move forward. And again, we have 300 advisors on the
ground. They’re in the process of assessing, but I would refer you to
DOD for any more specifics on their work.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Wednesday the Sunni fundamentalist
group the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) poses a threat not
just to the government in Baghdad, but to the United States as well."This
country should not make any mistake on this, nor anyone in Congress —
this is a threat to our country," Hagel said while meeting with troops
at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia."This is a force
that is sophisticated. It's dynamic, it's strong, it's organized, it's
well-financed, it's competent, [ISIS]. And it is a threat to our allies
all over the Middle East. It's a threat to Europe. It's a threat to
every stabilized country on Earth, and it's a threat to us," Hagel said.

Ramzy Baroud (Antiwar.com) offers this take:Not only is Obama failing to accept even a level of moral responsibility
over the current plight of Iraqis, but he is haggling
to achieve some political gains from Iraq’s misery. Hundreds of US troops
have been ordered back to Iraq to "assess" the fighting capabilities
of the Iraqi army, and a cautious attempt at intervention is building up slowly
in Washington. Interventionism is once more permeating American foreign policy
thinking; this time around, however, it is ‘soft’ intervention, although
it is laden with the same kind of language and misleading references.
It seems that the American government has learned so very little since
the last botched effort, championed by Perle’s neocons at remaking the
Middle East to its liking.

Nouri is the problem in Iraq and he cannot bring the country together.

He is inept and he is corrupt.

If you're not grasping it, right now, while Barack's insisting the
country needs a "political solution," Nouri's yet again attacking
political rivals. Rudaw reports:Hours after Iraq’s embattled Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki
accused the Kurds of harboring insurgents, the Kurdistan Region decided
that Kurdish ministers appointed to the Iraqi cabinet will not be going
to Baghdad.“As a first response to Maliki’s threats, the Kurdish
leadership has decided that our ministers will not attend any meetings
of the Iraqi cabinet,” said an official from the dominant Kurdistan
Democratic Party (KDP). The official said that there is a consensus among all Kurdish
political parties, including the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), to
boycott Baghdad.

Nouri is begging the US for help and US President Barack Obama has
provided him with weapons and now with US troops. And Nouri says "thank
you" by attacking the Kurds?